By akademiotoelektronik, 20/03/2022

Fousseiny Fall, the only Malian pilot of a Boeing 777 - Jeune Afrique

As a kid, this Malian dreamed of flying a plane. He is now at the helm of a Boeing 777.

He hovers. First because, for three days, he has been the father of a little boy. Then because, to his knowledge, he is the only Malian to fly a "triple 7", namely a Boeing 777. Tall, stiff and elegant, Fousseiny Fall displays enough calm to reassure those who are phobic about air transport. Today, he lives in Abu Dhabi, where the Etihad company is based, while his wife has just given birth in Paris. Almost thirty-seven years ago, he was born in Bamako, the son of a Malian state controller and a tradeswoman.

head in the air

Like many enthusiasts, Fousseiny Fall could only talk about planes. "Since I started to understand something, I always wanted to be a pilot", says the one who, like so many children, elects aircraft as a favorite toy and builds paper airplanes. From the popular district of Magnambougou, in Bamako, he travels four or five kilometers every day to reach school.

His parents are divorced, he has a twin brother, a younger brother and two half-sisters. “My mother worked to feed us, she sacrificed herself so that we could go to school. But I was an average student: we were hit and it was traumatic. »

Its first flight took place in the 1990s, on Air Guinée. “The stewardess showed me my seat, he recalls, but I went straight to the cockpit and the pilot told me that one day I could fly a plane. »

For a long time, he will content himself with raising his eyes to the sky to follow the great diagonals of steam. But, true to his idea, he mounted frequent expeditions to the airport and discovered the existence of the Bamako flying club. He was 18 in 1996 when his mother paid the exorbitant cost of a baptism flight on a Cessna 152. From now on, it will be almost every day: at the flying club, he follows lessons and cleans planes. With respect, he still mentions the name of his first instructor, Major Tall.

On the way to the United States

“At the end of the 1990s, the army of Mali recruited a dozen people for its planes, he says. I was selected after the bac, in 1999-2000. They paid for my lessons at the flying club and I was able to fly a little. But my mother told me that the army did not have many planes and advised me to go to the United States to continue my studies. »

He says he got a visitor visa "by chance", which turned into a student visa after he was accepted into the University of Delaware. First to learn English, of course. Earning some money in fast food at Friendly's, he stays focused on his ultimate goal. Mechanical Engineering at Delaware County Community College, then a Bachelor's degree in Airport Management at Delaware State University's Department of Aeronautical Science, and, when possible, a short flight in the skies from Wilmington Airport .

The attacks of September 11, 2001 did not make his task any easier. He's black, he's Muslim, he's a pilot. “It was difficult,” he says without elaborating.

His first internship will be with the main transportation company in Delaware and New Jersey, the Delaware River and Bay Authority. The dream is within reach. Fousseiny Fall obtained his diploma and his commercial pilot's license in 2005. “I was hired at the university as an instructor, which enabled me to accumulate flight hours. »

A deep attachment to Africa

If he says little about his attachment to Africa, his choices speak for him. So he joined as a pilot a Christian NGO, Mission Aviation Fellowship, which has a department in Mali. Aboard a Beechcraft 1900, he crosses his country from coast to coast, ensuring connections with Kidal, Gao, Timbuktu... Very quickly, however, his ambition takes him elsewhere: Mesa Airlines first, then Air Mali and Meridiana, both of which belong to the Aga Khan Group.

The experiment, mainly on McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and MD-87, is cut short. “My ambition went beyond that,” he said once again. And off he went to the United States at the Pan Am International Flight Academy to learn to fly Boeings. No doubt he succeeds rather well since in 2010, among several offers, he chooses Asky, which allows him to settle in Lomé, Togo. He will remain there until 2012, at the handle of a new generation Boeing 737.

"It didn't always go in the direction I wanted," he breathes. I decided to leave for Emirates or Etihad… I chose the latter because it has a great future…” For the time being co-pilot of a 777, Fousseiny Fall has eight thousand flying hours and a few personalities in the counter: Amadou Toumani Touré, Macky Sall, Cheick Modibo Diarra, Kofi Annan…

Wounded by the war in Mali, which, according to him, represents the complete opposite of the country's philosophy of sinankunya, the young Malian sees himself as an example to follow. Already, the one whose greatest pleasure is to drive dreams of a better service for Mali and cherishes the project of "facilitating the hajj" there. At this rate, he will quickly win his heaven.